The Chinese central government today announced regulations that would gut Hong Kong’s evolution to real democratic election of the city’s chief executive. In essence, Beijing imposed rules that would ensure that only it’s hand-picked candidates would be allowed to run for the city’s top government post. I attended the beginning of the rally in the park in front of the city’s main government offices today. Here are some pictures:

(My apologies for the poor photography — my Hong Kong cell phone has a decidedly inferior camera, and the rally really only got under way after dark.)

Police presence was heavy in the city during the day, with large foot patrols moving around. Interestingly, although Hong Kong’s police usually carry revolvers (.380s – I asked), most cops I saw today had empty holsters on their belts.

I speak fair Mandarin, but no Cantonese, so I could only sense the tone of the addresses from the pro-democracy activists on the stage — to me it seemed like fairly strong language, but not incendiary.

At the time I left the rally, there were at least 10,000 people there, and more were streaming in, despite intermittent rain.

I’m continuing to monitor the live stream from our Hong Kong bureau office. Follow the twitter feed for Hong Kong’s main pro-democracy activist group here.